Dual head straw wrapper

ABSTRACT

An improved method and apparatus for individually wrapping drinking straws applies a web of wrapping material to sequentially supplied straws while providing separately: (i) a crimping station for the wrapping material which secures it about the straws by providing longitudinal and transverse crimps and (ii) a cutting station for separating the wrapped straws. The discrete locations of the crimping and cutting stations enables faster and more reliable production by separating operations, which reduces the amount of mechanical interaction between dies at a single location, thereby reducing die bounce. Speed increases of 15-20 percent are readily achieved.

CLAIM FOR PRIORITY

This non-provisional application claims the benefit of the filing dateof U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/598,702, of the sametitle, filed Aug. 4, 2004.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus forwrapping straws and more specifically to an improved method andapparatus for wrapping straws with a web of sheet material, wherein thestraws are provided with a sheath crimped on three sides. There areprovided independent stations, one station crimping three sides of theweb around the straw and another station for cutting adjacent wrappedstraws from the web. Intermediate transfer rollers receive theindividually wrapped straws from the crimping station as a continuousfeed and supply them sequentially to the cutting station. Theindependent stations are physically separated from each other, therebyreducing the amount of die bounce at a single location, enabling fasterand more reliable operation.

BACKGROUND

Straw wrapping apparatus and the like are generally single unit devicesin which one tool performs multiple operations. These multipleoperations will include sealing edges of the wrapping material, cuttingportions of the wrapping material, printing indicia on the wrappingmaterial, and manipulating a direction of movement of the straw and/orwrapping material. Performing multiple operations at a single stationcauses known problems. For example, when sealing and cutting areperformed at a single station, an impact against the web and die rollersfrom the cutting operation will at times cause the sealing or crimpingsurfaces to become out of alignment with each other. A later resumptionof sealing or crimping will then be inaccurate, resulting in an inferiorproduct, loss of productivity due to resetting of the equipment, loss ofspeed and so forth.

General background with respect to straw wrapping is seen in U.S. Pat.No. 2,280,405 entitled “Method of Packaging Soda Straws” of G. O.Frostad; U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,191 entitled “Method and Apparatus forPackaging Drinking Straws” of H. E. Davis et al.; U.S. Pat. No.6,212,860 entitled “Apparatus for Wrapping Drinking Straws” of Preisneret al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,505 entitled “Straw Wrapping Machine, Methodand Product Using a Plastic Film Wrapper” of Meetze et al.; U.S. Pat.No. 6,321,510 entitled “Method of Wrapping Drinking Straws” of Preisneret al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,064 entitled “Straw Wrapping Machine andMethod” of Meetze et al.; and Publication Number 2002/0040565 entitled“Straw Wrapping Machine, Method and Product Using a Plastic FilmWrapper” of Meetze et al.

Equipment and methods for wrapping articles other than straws aredisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,616,232 entitled “Method and Apparatus forManufacture of Ampoules and Other Containers” of F. Meyer; U.S. Pat. No.2,346,044 entitled “Method of Packaging Razor Blades” of R. Nadeau; U.S.Pat. No. 3,611,674 entitled “Apparatus and Method for Forming andPackaging Cotton Swabs” of Glickston; U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,151 entitled“Package Having Fiber-Containing Sheath and Apparatus and Method forPackaging” of Roth et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,984 entitled“Wrapping Method and Apparatus” of Gerlach et al. Although sequentialstages of wrapping processes are defined, there is no mechanicalinsulation or separate location utilized for the separate process steps.Further, sealing of wrapped packages is with heat, adhesive, or thelike.

Other continuous web machines are known to form bags and envelopes to belater filled with an article other than straws. By way of example, seeU.S. Pat. No. 2,532,784 entitled “Bag Making Machine” of H. L. Reitzes;and U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,897 entitled “Method of and Apparatus for MakingTubular Envelopes” of Hinzmann et al. The bags and envelopes are sealedwith a heat seal or adhesive, and contain no crimped edges. Separationof the bags is by a cutting device and separation of the envelopes is aforceful separation along a preformed perforation. Operational elementsare not separately located for control of vibration or dynamic forces.

For an example of packaging that utilizes both adhesive sealing andcrimping, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 2,362,460 entitled “Infusion Packageand the Manufacture Thereof” of L. Barnett. Adhesive is applied along alongitudinal edge of the wrapper and crimping and cutting on transverseends is in a direction of material feed.

Another example of a wrapping mechanism is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,665entitled “Wrapping Mechanism for Rod Making Machines of the TobaccoProcessing Industry” of Heitmann. In this mechanism, a wrapper is sealedwith adhesive and the article, a cigarette, is cut at both ends. Theprocess is carried out at a single station.

As to further methods of wrapping products in a manufacturing process,see U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,168 entitled “Method an Apparatus forControlling a Driving System in a Packaging Machine” of Seko, and U.S.Pat. No. 6,574,944 entitled “Method and System for Ultrasonic Sealing ofFood Product Packaging” of Capodieci. In controlling a driving system,Seko provides separate motors all controlled by a single processor whichcoordinates events to load, convey and seal a package. The web is formedinto a tube at the time of entry of the article and then severed atpoints surrounding the article. There is no specific description of howthe web is “sealed” to form a tube, but pressure or a similar seal isinferred. For wrapping a food product, Capodieci uses ultrasonic sealingfor the longitudinal fin seal at a first location and a combinedcrimping/cutting for the end seam at a second location. Accordingly,similar to the remaining art, there is no separation of the crimping andcutting operations.

Despite many advances over the years in equipment for wrapping straws,manufacturing issues remain. It is always desirable to increasethroughput without encountering misalignment of die rollers, jamming ofweb material in gears, increasing friction on the gears, andcontaminating of wrapped straws by grease or other lubricants used onconventional gearing arrangements. It has been found in accordance withthe present invention that it is possible to increase throughput rates15 percent or more by separating crimping and cutting operations.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

There is provided in accordance with the invention an apparatus forindividually wrapping drinking straws including: (a) means for supplyinga continuous web of packaging material shaped around sequentiallysupplied straws moving in a production direction such that longitudinaledges of the shaped packaging material are aligned with each other; (b)a crimping station at a first location for wrapping a sequentiallysupplied straw including means for crimping a seam along the alignedlongitudinal edges of the shaped web material and means for crimping aseam transverse to the longitudinal edges of web material to form aclosed sleeve with crimped longitudinal fins and two transverse finssuch that crimped sleeve is formed around the straw and the strawremains attached to the continuous web; (c) a cutting station at asecond location with means for cutting the transverse crimped seamsbetween adjacent ones of the sequentially supplied and wrapped straws;(d) means for advancing the wrapped straw from the crimping station tothe cutting station while the closed sleeve remains attached to thecontinuous web of packaging material; and (e) means for synchronizingthe crimping and cutting stations; wherein the crimping and cuttingstations operate in concert at discrete sequential locations along aproduction direction. Typically, the crimping station includes a set ofrotatable opposed matching crimping dies with splines for crimping thealigned longitudinal edges of the shaped web material in a longitudinalfeed direction of the sequentially supplied straws and with splines forcrimping the shaped web material transverse to the longitudinal feed ofthe web material. A typical cutting station includes a pair of opposedcutting wheels, one of the wheels having a cutting member for severingthe crimped transverse ends between adjacent crimped sleeves. Thecutting wheels may further include mutually engaged gears and themutually engaged gears may be a metal gear and a plastic gear.

The means for advancing the wrapped straw includes in a typicalembodiment: (f) an intermediate drive roller positioned between thecrimping station and the cutting station; and (g) an intermediatesupport roller mating with the intermediate drive roller forsequentially feeding the closed sleeved straws from the crimping stationto the cutting station. The apparatus may further include: (h) a firsttiming belt coupling the set of crimping dies to the intermediate driveroller, thereby coordinating the timing of straw feed from the crimpingstation through the drive and support rollers; and (i) a second timingbelt connecting the crimping station to cutting station, therebycoordinating the timing of straw feed through the crimping station withthe timing of straw feed through the cutting station. A preferredembodiment further includes: (j) a guide plate at an inlet end of thecutting station, the guide plate separating the web material from thedriving gear of the cutting station. So also, the mating die cuttingwheels preferably include an inwardly arcuate shaped channel formed ineach outer peripheral surface, such that an outer circular surface ofthe closed sleeved straw will pass through aligned mating die cuttingwheels, one of the mating die cutting rollers including a cutting memberin a defined portion of the outer peripheral surface thereof andsynchronized to cut against the opposing die cutting roller at thetransverse crimp of a closed sleeve containing a straw. In thisembodiment, the inwardly arcuate channels of the die cutting wheelscorrespond generally in circumferential length to a length of anindividual straw and the cutting member interrupts the inwardly arcuateshape of the die cutting wheels intermediate adjacent sequential closedsleeved straws to sever a crimped transverse seam. Typically, thecutting station includes a cutting blade at an outer surface of one ofthe opposed mating die cutting wheels for performing a transverse cutwithin the crimped seam area against an anvil of the opposing diecutting wheel and separating adjacent wrapped straws. Typically, thecutting wheels have a surface for receiving a wrapped strawsubstantially equal in circumferential length to the length of thestraw.

A preferred apparatus includes the combination comprising: (a) means forsupplying a continuous web of wrapping material shaped aroundsequentially supplied straws moving in a production direction such thatlongitudinal edges of the shaped wrapping material are aligned with eachother; (b) a crimping station at a first location including a pair ofopposed rotatable and matched crimping dies provided withcircumferential channels and first and second sets of crimping splines,(i) the first set of crimping splines being disposed over thecircumference of the crimping die and being adapted to provide alongitudinal crimped fin along the longitudinal edges of the wrappingmaterial is secured around the straw over the length of the straw, (ii)the second set of crimping splines extending over a distance less thanthe distance between sequentially supplied straws and being adapted toprovide a transverse crimp between sequentially supplied straws suchthat each straw is contained within a crimped sleeve containing thestraw, the sleeve being thus closed along the longitudinal as well astransverse directions, (c) a cutting station disposed at a secondlocation including a pair of opposed cutting wheels, each of the wheelshaving a channel adapted to receive a wrapped straw therebetween, thewheels also including means for severing wrapped straws along thetransverse crimped fins therebetween to produce individually wrappedstraws, (d) a conveying station including a pair of opposed driverollers disposed at a third location intermediate the crimping stationand the cutting station, the drive rollers being operable to advance awrapped straw attached to the web between the crimping station and thecutting station; and (e) means for synchronizing the crimping station,the conveying station and the cutting station. Preferably, the crimpingstation, the conveying station and the cutting station are disposedwithin about the length of a wrapped straw and the crimping dies arebiased toward each other as are the cutting wheels biased toward eachother. The crimping station, conveying station and cutting station arepreferably linked to a common drive, such as a single drive motor by wayof a plurality of timing belts.

In another aspect of the invention, a method for individually wrappingdrinking straws comprises the steps of: (a) supplying a continuous webof packaging material to a web shaping station; (b) shaping thecontinuous web around sequentially supplied straws moving in aproduction direction such that longitudinal edges of the shaped materialare aligned; (c) crimping, at a first location, the aligned longitudinaledges of the shaped web material to form a longitudinal seam andcrimping a seam transverse to the longitudinal edges of the shaped webmaterial to form a closed sleeve with crimped longitudinal andtransverse fins such that the closed sleeve remains attached to thecontinuous web; (d) transporting the combined straw and surroundingclosed sleeve out of the crimping station wherein the closed sleeveremains attached to the continuous web; (e) delivering the combinedstraw and surrounding closed sleeve to a cutting station at a secondlocation while the sleeve remains a continuous closed sleeve; and (f)cutting, at the second location, the crimped end seam between adjacentones of the sequentially supplied and closed sleeved straws within thecrimped area of the end seam thereby separating adjacent wrapped straws;and (g) synchronizing the crimping and cutting steps, wherein thecrimping station and cutting station operate in concert but at discretesequential locations along a production direction. Preferably, the stepsof transporting and delivering include: (h) positioning a drive rollerintermediate the crimping station and the cutting station; and (i)providing a support roller mating with the intermediate drive roller forsequentially feeding the straws from the crimping station to the cuttingstation.

These and other aspects of the invention all become readily apparentfrom the discussion which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention is described in detail below in connection with theappended drawings wherein like numerals designate like parts andwherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wrapped straw of the class produced inconnection with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective, schematic view of portions of an apparatus ofthe present invention for forming a wrapped straw as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan schematic view of a portion of the apparatus ofFIG. 2 showing a crimping station, transfer station, and cuttingstation;

FIG. 4 is a side schematic view of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 2further showing common drive means;

FIG. 5A is a perspective view of a pair of rotating crimping dies of theapparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a bottom plan view of the pair of crimping dies of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of a pair of matched rotating cuttingwheels of the present invention and a guide plate isolating the gearsfrom the straw feed to the cutting wheels;

FIG. 6B is a top view of the matched cutting wheels of FIG. 6A; and

FIG. 6C is a side view of a cutting wheel illustrating its profile alongline C-C of FIG. 6A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is described in detail below with reference to numerousembodiments for purposes of exemplification and illustration only.Modifications to particular embodiments within the spirit and scope ofthe present invention, set forth in the appended claims, will be readilyapparent to those of skill in the art.

As used herein, terminology is given its ordinary meaning unless a morespecific definition is given or the context indicates otherwise.

Wrapped straws produced by way of the invention are of the disposabletype including a plastic straw wrapped in a crimped paper sleeve. Thepaper is generated from a web of lightweight paper material and isshaped around the straw and crimped on three sides with matched crimpingdies. As a result of the crimping, three fins are produced on thewrapping material for the straw, including a longitudinal fincorresponding to the longitudinal axis of the straw and two end finstransverse to the longitudinal axis of the straw. The present inventionuses separate stations including a crimping station at a first locationand a cutting station at a second location. All crimping is conducted atthe crimping station, while all cutting is conducted at the cuttingstation. The wrapped and seamed straw is transported from the crimpingstation to the cutting station by an intermediate transfer device. Theseparation of the crimping and cutting events eliminates several knownproblems in devices where crimping and cutting occur at the samestation. Specifically, when a crimping operation is followed by acutting operation at the same location, the crimping dies can “bounce”and be slightly separated from each other by the force applied to theweb by the cutting device. This force will cause the crimping rollers toseparate slightly and miscue or jump off track, thereby creating amisalignment when the crimping resumes. In order to avoid themisalignment, it is a practice to reduce the speed of the crimping andcutting operations, which in turn results in reduced productivity.Accordingly, by separating the crimping and cutting operations, thepresent invention eliminates the need to reduce operational speed andcan in fact increase operational speed by as much as 20% over similardevices which combine crimping and cutting in a single station.

Articles prepared by way of the invention include plastic or paperstraws wrapped in a crimped paper web. Straws are typically an elongatedcylinder in shape, but can also be of any other elongatedcross-sectional shape such as a square tube, triangular tube, or othermulti-sided shape. Alterations in shape would require reshaping of theopposed cutting die in the cutting station to accommodate the shape ofthe article being transported. Such modifications are intended to beincluded within the scope of the invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a wrapped straw 10 as aproduct of the invention. Wrapped straw 10 includes a straw 12 envelopedby a wrapper 14 with a shaped portion 16 along a longitudinal axis ofthe straw 12, a crimped fin portion 18 substantially opposing the shapedportion 16 of the web and likewise formed along the longitudinal axis ofthe straw, and crimped fin portions 20 forming seamed ends of thewrapper 14. The material of the straw 12 is not critical to theinvention and in fact may be made of any suitable material known now ordiscovered in the future as a suitable material for a drinking straw.

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a perspective view of thestraw wrapping apparatus 22 according to the present invention.Typically, the straw wrapping device 22 will include a web supplystation 24 having a paper spool 26 mounted therein on a rotatable hub28. Paper spool 26 is intended to support that type of paper web 27which is most suitable for wrapping straws. For example, a type of paperused in the straw wrapping apparatus of the present invention may be inthe range of 5-15 pounds per 3000 square foot ream. The paper maycontain indicia preprinted thereon or be provided with an intermediateprinting station (not shown) to print indicia on the paper prior tofurther supplying the paper to a downstream destination.

A continuous paper web 27 from spool 26 is tensioned around a tensionroller 30, tension roller 30 being displaceable within an arcuate slot32 as is known in the art. The web material is pulled from the tensionroller 30 by a drive roller 34 spring biased against an idling roller36. From the drive roller 34 and idling roller 36, web 27 is fed througha pair of guide rollers 38, 40. Guide rollers 38, 40 are spaced apart toprovide a flat web fed surface beneath a straw supply bin 42. From theguide rollers 38, 40, web 27 is fed over an inlet roll 44 of a webshaping member 46. Web shaping member 46 is typically a progressivelynarrowing elongated and U-shaped funnel which gently rounds web 27 intoa U-shape such that longitudinal edges 48 of web 27 are aligned witheach other.

Straw supply bin 42 is a hopper type of arrangement which successivelyfeeds a single straw 12 onto a continuously rotating endless belt 50positioned beneath the straw supply bin 42. Endless belt 50 is alignedwith a dispensing end of the straw supply bin 42 and at a position wherea lead end of a dispensed straw 12 will engage with the exposed surfaceof the material web 27 just prior to web shaping member 46. Further,endless belt 50 will push straw 12 to a point where shape 16 of webmaterial 27 will frictionally engage with straw 12 and secure it withinthe U-shape of web 27.

It will be appreciated from the references noted above that the websupply, straw dispensing, and shaping of a web are generally known inthe art and may be modified to suit the supply speeds, types or sizes ofstraws, and types or sizes of paper for wrapping the straws.

Still referring to FIG. 2 and also referring to the top plan view ofFIG. 3, further details particularly embodying the novel features of thepresent invention will be explained. There are three primary stations tothe straw wrapping device, including a crimping station 60 supported ona support frame 62, a cutting station 64 mounted on a support frame 66,and an intermediate transfer station 68 between the crimping station 60and the cutting station 64. The intermediate transfer station 68 may bemounted on cutting station support frame 66 or independently mounted. Inaddition, all stations may then be further mounted on a common frame orremain independent. Crimping station 60 receives the shaped web andstraw 12 between a pair of rotating matched crimping dies 70, 72. Aswill be explained in further detail, dies 70, 72 are mutually opposed toengage with the aligned longitudinal edges 48 of the shaped web 27 inorder to form a crimped longitudinal seam 18. In addition, the diecrimping rollers 70, 72 engage at cooperating surface portions to formcrimped seams 20 in a direction transverse to the longitudinal crimpedseam 18. Transverse crimped seams 20 are spaced apart by a distance ofthe straw 12 held in the “U” shape 16 of the web material 12.

When it is wrapped and crimped, a wrapped straw 12′ is completelyenveloped by the crimped and shaped web material, but the adjacentlyencased straws 12′ are not yet severed from each other. In other words,as a straw leaves the crimping station, it is linked to the strawpreviously wrapped by way of continuous web 27 until the previous strawis severed from web 27. Thus, a series of encased and still connectedstraws 12′ are transported to cutting station 64 by means ofintermediate transfer station 68. The intermediate transfer station 68includes a guiding roller 74 and a support roller 76 which will beexplained in further detail below. From intermediate transfer station68, the series of encased straws 12′ are delivered to cutting station64. At the cutting station 64, the only operation occurring is thesequential severing of the supplied and encased straws 12′ from eachother. Once severed, the series of encased straws 12′ becomeindividually wrapped straws 10. The individually wrapped straws 10 arethen packaged for distribution.

Separation of crimping station 60 from cutting station 64 is highlyadvantageous in terms of speed, efficiency, and equipment stability forwrapping straws. Conventionally, at the sealing of a straw wrapper, acutting of the web will occur as well. When the cutting operation isperformed, the impact from the cutting member will occasionally causethe crimping wheels to separate thereby becoming offset or misalignedfrom each other. Upon beginning another crimping operation, the crimpingrollers will not accurately crimp the material web, resulting in adefective or potentially unusable product. In order to accommodate thisproblem of misalignment of crimping rollers, the overall speed of theequipment must be slowed to a point where impact of the cutting memberwill not cause the crimping rollers to jump off track. Accordingly,separation of crimping station 60 from cutting station 64 as in thepresent invention minimizes the impact of the cutting operation upon thesealing operation. Speed, reliability, and overall quality improvedramatically. In particular, the overall operational speed will increaseby about 20% over devices in which the crimping and cutting occur at asingle station.

Additional features of the separate stations will now be described infurther detail in connection with the Figures noted above as well asFIGS. 4 through 6C. First, the sealing station 60 includes the pair ofmatched rotating crimping dies 70, 72 which dies are shown in moredetail in FIGS. 5A and 5B. As particularly shown in FIG. 5A, each ofcrimping dies 70, 72 includes an inner axial shaft opening 80 and anouter peripheral surface 82. One of the crimping rollers, 70, isrotatably mounted on a shaft 84 driven by a driveshaft 86 by way of atransfer case (not shown). Driveshaft 86 is rotated by a pulley 88driven by a belt 151. Continuing, opposing crimping roller 72 is rotatedabout its central axis 90 by mutual engagement of splines of itscrimping surface with splines of crimping roller 70. At outer peripheralsurfaces of each crimping wheel 70, 72 there is formed a circumferentialrecess 92. Circumferential recesses 92 are of a depth to accommodate andgrip an outer surface of the wrapped straw 12 when the straw is fedlongitudinally through crimping rollers 70, 72. In order to maintainproper registry, die 72 is biased toward die 70 by way of springsindicated 71, shown schematically in FIGS. 3 and 4. Circumferentialrecesses 92 may be circumferential grooves, circumferential U-shaped orL-shaped recesses as particularly shown in the Figures. Circumferentialknurling surfaces 94 are formed around an entire peripheral surface ofeach of the crimping rollers 70, 72, and may be located at an upper orlower edge of the die or set in from an upper or lower edge of the dieaccording to manufacturing needs. Typically, circumferential knurlingsurface 94 is about ¼ inch wide or so and has a plurality of knurlingsplines as shown. Optional widths of a circumferential knurling surfaceare not intended to be limited by the example given, and may be alteredaccording to manufacturing needs. Crimping rollers 70, 72 furtherinclude a transverse knurling surfaces 96 interrupting thecircumferential recess 92 as shown. In particular, the transverseknurling surface 96 spans an entire peripheral surface height of thecrimping roller 70, 72, which is approximately ¾ inch across, and spansabout ¼ to ½ inches in length or so in the circumferential direction ofthe crimping die. The circumferential length across the splines thatmake the transverse crimp is slightly less than the distance betweensequential wrapped straws. The outer circumference of crimping rollers70, 72 is slightly longer than the length of a straw 12 being wrapped.Thus, straw 12 housed in the shaped web 27 will remain uncompressedwithin a channel formed by circumferential recesses 92 ascircumferential knurling surfaces 94 crimp the longitudinal edges 48 ofthe web material 27 together and crimp web material 27 at an end of thestraw 12 transverse to the longitudinal crimping. The complete crimpingof the material web 27 is thus synchronized to the exit of the wrappedstraw 12 from the crimping rollers 70, 72 and thus crimping station 60.Crimped web 27 thus includes an envelope around each wrapped strawhaving a longitudinal crimp 18 and transverse crimps 20 between straws.

Subsequent to crimping of web 27 at crimping station 60, the continuouslength of sequentially wrapped straws 12′ is delivered to theintermediate transfer station 68, perhaps best shown in the sideschematic view of FIG. 4. At intermediate transfer station 68, guidingroller 74 and support roller 76 frictionally engage the wrapped straws.Guiding roller 74 includes a grooved outer peripheral surface 98 with apair of O-rings 100 surrounding guiding roller 74 within the groovedsurface 98. Likewise, support roller 76 may include O-rings on an outersurface thereof, be recessed to receive the outer shaped of the straw,or be of a frictional material suitable to assist in holding wrappedstraw 12′ between guiding roller 74 and support roller 76. Guidingroller 74 is connected to the sealing station 60 with a pulleyarrangement. In particular, a guiding wheel pulley 102 is mounted on acommon shaft 104 with guiding wheel 74 and a sealing roller pulley 106is mounted on common shaft 84 with one of the sealing station rollers70. A timing belt 110 is looped around guiding wheel pulley 102 andcrimping roller pulley 106 such that a feeding of the sequentiallywrapped straws 12′ will be transferred from the crimping station 60 tothe intermediate transfer station 68 without interruption. Further, thestructure along shaft 104 of the guiding roller 74 is such that bracket112 spaces the assembly from support frame 64, mount 114 secures theassembly to bracket 112, and substantially free rotation of shaft 104 isenabled by an arrangement of bearings 116 and spacer 118 around shaft104. Preferably, transfer station 68 is thus adapted to engage a wrappedstraw and advance it in the production direction.

During operation, a wrapped straw substantially spans the distancebetween crimping station 60 and cutting station 64. Thus, a straw issupported generally by at least two sets of rollers as it leavestransfer station 60 and traverses the apparatus between the twostations. Transfer station 68 is approximately ½ of a straw length fromboth stations 60, 64 such that a wrapped straw bearing station 60 willsubstantially be supported first by transfer station 68 and by cuttingstation 64 as it leaves wrapping station 60. The crimping and cuttingstations are thus within about the length of a wrapped straw or so withrespect to each other. At cutting station 64, opposed cutting wheels120, 122 receive the wrapped and crimped straw 12′ from transfer station68 and sever wrapped straws 12′ at a location substantially in themiddle of the transverse end crimp 20 in web 27 between straws such thateach severed and individually wrapped straw 10 will be wrapped withpaper having a three-sided crimp and a “U” shape 16. Gear portions aswell as a spring 121 indicated schematically in FIG. 3 maintain thecutting wheels in proper registry as will be appreciated from thediagram.

Referring to FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C cutting wheels 120, 122 each include acircumferential groove 124 formed in an outer circumferential surfacethereof which corresponds in shape to ½ the outer surface of the wrappedstraw, thus forming a channel for receiving a wrapped straw. Each ofcutting wheels 120, 122 include geared portions 126, 127 extendingbeyond the circumference of the cutting wheel 120, 122. Geared portions126, 127 of the cutting wheels engage and provide a simultaneous,synchronized rotation of the cutting wheels 120, 122. Further, thegeared portions 126 of cutting wheels 120, 122 are each formed of adifferent material. Specifically, the geared portion 126 of cuttingwheel 120 is formed of metal, and the geared portion 127 surface ofcutting wheel 122 is formed of plastic. Use of two different gearmaterials eliminates the need for lubrication of the gears. Otherwise,the lubrication may contaminate the wrapped straws 12′. The plastic gearis a high strength plastic and meshing of the plastic and metal gearssubstantially reduces wear on the gears. This use of two different gearmaterials is highly effective, long lasting, clean, and not believedpreviously utilized in the art.

An anvil 128 and holder 130 are mounted in cutting wheel 122 adjacent anouter surface thereof. A cutting blade 132 is mounted in opposed cuttingwheel 120 adjacent an outer surface thereof. Rotation of the cuttingwheels 120, 122 are such that the anvil 128 and cutting member 132 aresynchronized to meet at the transverse crimped end 20 of the wrappedstraw 12′ by virtue of gear portions 126, 127. Anvil 128 and holder 130are of a known type and fixed to cutting wheel 120 by a screw 134 or thelike. In cutting wheel 122, cutting blade 132 may be a flat cuttingblade which extends beyond an inner arcuate surface of groove 124 andimpacts directly against the anvil 128. Preferably, blade 132 is a highgrade of steel while anvil 128 is a metal or a hard rubber. Brass orlike materials are believed suitable for anvil 128.

It will be appreciated from the various Figures that the wrapped straws12′ are engaged by crimping dies 70, 72 in the channel definedtherebetween by recesses 92; that they are engaged by rollers 74, 76 andthat the wrapped straws engage the channel between cutting wheels 120,122 defined by grooves 124 therein. The cutting wheels engage a wrappedstraw by way of grooves 124 and advance it in the production direction.

Operation of the various stations must be synchronized in order for theapparatus to perform properly. To this end, the splines of the crimpingdies engage each other as do the gear portions of the cutting wheels. Soalso, a common drive is used. A motor (not shown) drives a timing belt151 which, in turn, drives a pulley 88 coupled to driveshaft 86 and atiming belt 150. Belt 150 drives pulley 146 which is coupled todriveshaft 144 of the cutting wheels so that stations 60 and 64 arecommonly driven. Transfer station 68 is likewise coupled to the motordriving belt 151 by way of pulleys 104, 106, and a timing belt 102 byway of shaft 84 which is secured to driveshaft. All three stations thusmay be readily adapted to drive the wrapped straws 12′ along aproduction direction 155 at the same speed to provide for smoothoperation. Preferably, the dies and cutting wheels are driven by therespective driveshafts; however, the parts may be geared to each otherand only one of each set driven by the driveshafts, if so desired. Forexample, a cutting wheel shaft 142 is connected to the central axis ofthe cutting wheel 120 and is driven by shaft 144 by a transfer gear (notshown). The cutting station shaft 144 supports a pulley 146, the pulleybeing driven by a motor by way of a timing belt. Rotation of cuttingwheels 120, 122 is therefore initiated by the commonly connected motorby way of timing belts 150, 151 as noted earlier.

In operation, all stations are thus synchronized to continuously wrap aseries of straws with a shaped and crimped paper web. while maintainingseparation between a sealing station and a cutting station, therebyincreasing speed, reliability, and efficiency of the machine.

While the invention has been described in connection with severalexamples, modifications to those examples within the spirit and scope ofthe invention will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art. Inview of the foregoing discussion, relevant knowledge in the art andreferences discussed above in connection with the Background andDetailed Description, the disclosures of which are all incorporatedherein by reference, further description is deemed unnecessary.

1. In an apparatus for individually wrapping drinking straws, thecombination comprising: (a) means for supplying a continuous web ofpackaging material shaped around sequentially supplied straws moving ina production direction such that longitudinal edges of the shapedpackaging material are aligned with each other; (b) a crimping stationat a first location for wrapping a sequentially supplied straw includingmeans for crimping a seam along the aligned longitudinal edges of theshaped web material and means for crimping a seam transverse to thelongitudinal edges of web material to form a closed sleeve with acrimped longitudinal fin and two transverse fins such that a closedcrimped sleeve is formed around the straw and the straw remains attachedto the continuous web; (c) a cutting station at a second location withmeans for cutting the transverse crimped seams between adjacent ones ofthe sequentially supplied and wrapped straws; (d) means for advancingthe wrapped straw from the crimping station to the cutting station whilethe closed sleeve remains attached to the continuous web of packagingmaterial; and (e) means for synchronizing the crimping and cuttingstations; wherein the crimping and cutting stations operate in concertat discrete sequential locations along a production direction.
 2. Thecombination according to claim 1, wherein the cutting station includes apair of opposed cutting wheels, one of the wheels having a cuttingmember for severing the crimped transverse ends between adjacent closedsleeves.
 3. The combination according to claim 2, wherein the cuttingwheels include mutually engaged gears and the mutually engaged gears area metal gear and a plastic gear.
 4. The combination according to claim1, wherein the means for advancing the wrapped straw includes: (f) anintermediate drive roller positioned between the crimping station andthe cutting station; and (g) an intermediate support roller opposing theintermediate drive roller adapted to cooperate therewith forsequentially feeding the closed sleeved straws from the crimping stationto the cutting station.
 5. The combination according to claim 1, whereinthe crimping station includes a set of rotatable opposed matchingcrimping dies with splines for crimping the aligned longitudinal edgesof the shaped web material in a longitudinal feed direction of thesequentially supplied straws and with splines for crimping the shapedweb material transverse to the longitudinal feed direction of the webmaterial.
 6. The combination according to claim 5, further comprising:(h) a first timing belt coupling the set of crimping dies to theintermediate drive roller, thereby coordinating the timing of straw feedfrom the crimping station through the drive and support rollers; and (i)a second timing belt connecting the crimping station to cutting station,thereby coordinating the timing of straw feed through the crimpingstation with the timing of straw feed through the cutting station. 7.The combination according to claim 6, further comprising: a guide plateat an inlet end of the cutting station, the guide plate separating theweb material from the gears of the cutting station.
 8. The combinationaccording to claim 2, wherein the mating cutting wheels include channelswith an inwardly arcuate shape formed in each outer peripheral surface,such that an outer circular surface of the closed sleeved straw willpass through aligned mating cutting wheels, one of the mating cuttingwheels including a cutting member in a defined portion of the outerperipheral surface thereof and synchronized to cut against the opposingcutting wheel at the transverse crimp of the closed sleeve.
 9. Thecombination according to claim 8, wherein the inwardly arcuate channelof the cutting wheels correspond in length to a length of an individualstraw.
 10. The combination according to claim 8, wherein the cuttingmember interrupts the inwardly arcuate shape of the die cutting wheelsintermediate adjacent sequential closed sleeved straws to sever acrimped transverse seam.
 11. The combination according to claim 8,wherein the cutting member of the cutting station includes a cuttingblade at an outer surface of one of the opposed mating die cuttingwheels for performing a transverse cut within the crimped seam areaagainst an anvil of the opposing die cutting wheel and separatingadjacent wrapped straws.
 12. In an apparatus for individually wrappingdrinking straws, the combination comprising: (a) means for supplying acontinuous web of wrapping material shaped around sequentially suppliedstraws moving in a production direction such that longitudinal edges ofthe shaped wrapping material are aligned with each other; (b) a crimpingstation at a first location including a pair of opposed rotatable andmatched crimping dies provided with circumferential channels and firstand second sets of crimping splines, (i) the first set of crimpingsplines being disposed over the circumference of the crimping die andbeing adapted to provide a longitudinal crimped fin along thelongitudinal edges of the wrapping material which is thereby securedaround the straw over the length of the straw, (ii) the second set ofcrimping splines extending over a distance less than the distancebetween sequentially supplied straws and being adapted to provide atransverse crimp between sequentially supplied straws such that eachstraw is contained within a crimped sleeve containing the straw, (c) thesleeve being thus closed along the longitudinal as well as transversedirections, (d) a cutting station disposed at a second locationincluding a pair of opposed cutting wheels, each of the wheels having achannel adapted to receive a wrapped straw therebetween, the wheels alsoincluding means for severing wrapped straws along the transverse crimpedfins therebetween to produce individually wrapped straws; (e) aconveying station including a pair of opposed drive rollers disposed ata third location intermediate the crimping station and the cuttingstation, the drive rollers being operable to advance a wrapped strawattached to the web between the crimping station and the cuttingstation; and (f) means for synchronizing the crimping station, theconveying station and the cutting station.
 13. The combination accordingto claim 12, wherein the crimping station, the conveying station and thecutting station are disposed within about the length of a wrapped straw.14. The combination according to claim 12, wherein the crimping dies arebiased toward each other.
 15. The combination according to claim 12,wherein the cutting wheels are biased toward each other.
 16. Thecombination according to claim 12, wherein the crimping station,conveying station and cutting station are linked to a common drive. 17.The combination according to claim 16, wherein the crimping station,conveying station and cutting station are linked by way of a pluralityof timing belts.
 18. A method for individually wrapping drinking strawscomprising the steps of: (a) supplying a continuous web of packagingmaterial to a web shaping station; (b) shaping the continuous web aroundsequentially supplied straws moving in a production direction such thatlongitudinal edges of the shaped material are aligned; (c) crimping, ata first location, the aligned longitudinal edges of the shaped webmaterial to form a longitudinal seam and crimping a seam transverse tothe longitudinal edges of the shaped web material to form a closedsleeve with crimped longitudinal and transverse fins such that theclosed sleeve remains attached to the continuous web; (d) transportingthe combined straw and surrounding closed sleeve out of the crimpingstation wherein the closed sleeve remains attached to the continuousweb; (e) delivering the combined straw and surrounding closed sleeve toa cutting station at a second location while the sleeve remains acontinuous closed sleeve; and (f) cutting, at the second location, thecrimped end seam between adjacent ones of the sequentially supplied andclosed sleeved straws within the crimped area of the end seam therebyseparating adjacent wrapped straws; and (g) synchronizing the crimpingand cutting steps (h) wherein the crimping station and cutting stationoperate in concert but at discrete sequential locations along aproduction direction.
 19. The method according to claim 18, wherein thesteps of transporting and delivering include: (i) positioning a driveroller intermediate the crimping station and the cutting station; and(j) providing a support roller mating with the intermediate drive rollerfor sequentially feeding the straws from the crimping station to thecutting station.
 20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the stepof crimping is carried out between a pair of rotatable crimping dies,each having first and second spline sets, wherein (i) the first set ofcrimping splines being disposed over the circumference of the crimpingdie and being adapted to provide a longitudinal crimped fin along thelongitudinal edges of the wrapping material which is thereby securedaround the straw over the length of the straw and (ii) the second set ofcrimping splines extending over a distance less than the distancebetween sequentially supplied straws and being adapted to provide atransverse crimp between sequentially supplied straws such that eachstraw is contained within a crimped sleeve containing the straw.